12 Days of Yoga is not a challenge
The definition of a challenge is “something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.” If you’re familiar with the online health and fitness industry, you’ll know that it abounds with events labelled as challenges. Often these involve doing something, or abstaining from something, daily for a fixed period of time, and connecting with others who undertaking the same challenge. And as the word challenge implies, a special effort is generally required of its participants.
Which gets tricky when setting group challenges!
Some of us want to be challenged by plank pose. Some of us don’t find it challenging at all, and some of us know that it will not benefit our bodies or our minds in their present state.
Ditto meditation. Some of us are experts, some of us are daunted by even beginning, and some of us may not benefit from a generic approach to learning this skill.
A carefully-planned and marketed online challenge recruits people who will genuinely benefit from participating, offering them focus and structure, a sense of community, and an opportunity to learn from experts. I’ve participated in some fantastic online challenges this year, and I’m very grateful to the people who create thoughtful content that is appropriate for me and the other participants. But problems arise when a challenge promotes unsustainable habits or requires participants to do things that may not be safe for their mental or physical health. Plus, sometimes it’s nice just to do things that are comfortable. Accordingly, I’ve been thinking about 12 Days of Yoga as an event rather than a challenge.
Here’s what 12 Days of Yoga is not:
We won’t be trying to reduce waistlines or maximize muscle.
We won’t be giving up gluten, or prescribing kale or kimchi or kelp.
We won’t be rewarding the people who do each video on the day it’s released.
If you want to do any of things, that’s fine. But it’s not my business to tell you to do them, or to imply that they make you a better person or better at yoga.
Instead, here's what 12 Days of Yoga can offer you. Maybe one of these things is valuable to you, maybe two or three:
A chance to try something new amongst all the Christmas traditions.
A time to return to the familiarity of yoga amongst all the Christmas noise.
For physical movement, if you days are otherwise still.
Or for mental rest if your days are full of activity.
For connection to other people if you are alone.
Or for a moment of peace from the people you’re always with.
You don’t have to do every video, or turn up every single day. All of the video practices will remain available until the end of January - so you can repeat the ones that you enjoy as many times as you like. And if one of them doesn’t appeal to you, then don’t do it! We’ve all faced challenges in 2020, and you probably don’t want to be challenged further on Christmas Day. But if you do want some comfort and peace during the holiday period, join me for12 Days of Yoga. You may find that it’s the respite you need after a year of challenges.